Eine andere Seite
by klutzyxangel
Summary: Title translated from German means 'Another Side.' Murtagh finds himself taking care of an eight year old! Now he has to play babysitter... during a war. He doesn't know what'll kill him first, the war or the child and her adventures. Set after Eldest.
1. Chapter One

I will tell you this now, this fanfic isn't MurtaghxOC (because let me tell you, Murtagh would be a pedo if I did that D:), I'm not a big fan of those, I was just bored... A few things before I begin, one being that the title of the story is in German and it means 'Another Side' (I'm pretty sure, I used a translator XD;) and the title of Chapter one means 'Encounter' or 'Meeting'. So the rest of the chapter titles shall be in German! (I love the way German looks XD;)

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Chapter One - Treffen

Murtagh sat on his red dragon's back, looking up at the light blue sky, his right hand resting on Zar'roc's hilt. His mind was on other things right at this point, he didn't even know where he was going and why. Something Galbatorix said about rebels in a near by village and being punished. It was a good thing that Thorn had been listening in on the conversation or Murtagh would have been at a complete lose at what to do. He couldn't stop thinking about what Eragon had said to him just a couple of weeks ago. _"Then let us kill the two of you."_ To think that someone who shared the same blood as him, someone that he even considered a friend once suggested such a thing! That was his way of setting a person free?! With his free hand, his left hand, Murtagh made a fist and shook it at his side. _Is everything all right...? _Murtagh heard a deep voice that was full of concern in his mind. He nodded, un-clenching his fist and patted Thorn. "It's nothing you need to worry about." There was no reason to get Thorn worrying over him and risk his guard being down. As he told Eragon, life was too sweet to just waist.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the cold wind hitting him on his face. "Are we there yet?" Murtagh asked his dragon. _You should have paid attention rather then daydreamed. _

"W-what? I wasn't daydreaming!"

_I could have sworn there was drool coming from your mouth._

"Thorn..." He was in almost a warning voice.

_Won't you tell me what it was about?_

"It was nothing important. Just focus on our destination!" He snapped and could have sworn his dragon was laughing. Sure... maybe he was daydreaming about a certain brown-haired boy but he wasn't planning on admitting that or telling anyone. There were just some thoughts in his mind that he wasn't willing to share, not now, not ever. Not even with Thorn.

They finally reached the village were the said rebels were suppose to be at. Trying to keep a low profile for the time being, Thorn lowered himself into the forest. Murtagh bit his thumb, thinking. He was now wondering if the people of this village were even rebels, for all he knew they got on the king's bad side for not giving him their meat or money. Killing innocent people... Murtagh could hear Eragon's voice in the back of his mind, whining about how it was wrong, he should give the people a chance, blahblahblah. But he didn't have a choice, why couldn't Eragon understand? "I should make him swear something in the Ancient Language and see how he likes it." He muttered under his breath as he slid off of Thorn's back. He took a quick moment to stretch, cracking his back and neck. _Gross!_ He heard Thorn hiss, clearly hearing the cracks and not liking them. Murtagh couldn't help but at least slightly smirk at that. "Are you telling me you find that sick when you eat animals and crack their bones to get to the meat." Thorn shook his head telling Murtagh that it was completely different. He couldn't see how different it could be but just shrugged, "What ever you say, Thorn. What ever you say..."

He took a moment to look around before speaking once more, "Did the king ever say if there would be back-up?" Thorn snorted and rolled his red eyes, _No. See Murtagh, this is why you have to pay attention. The king said this was punishment for not bringing your brother back. _So that's was the being punished part was all about. Murtagh sighed, running his finger through his dark hair. "Well shall we be going then?"

Thorn looked at him, almost puzzled. _Do you have a plan you would mind sharing with me?_

"I knew I was forgetting something... okay we'll set up a distraction. I want you to fly above the village and set it on fire, ki--..." Murtagh stopped himself from finishing that sentance. He took a semi-long pause before going on. "If in any way they look like they are going to attack you then I want you to get rid of them." Murtagh waved a hand as if to say 'go on, get going', but Thorn stood still. _What about you?_

"I'll be going in through the entrance once the place is in flames. So make sure you don't set me on fire."

Finally, knowing the plan, Thorn stretched his red wings and took off. Murtagh watched for a moment before taking off himself. As he walked he pulled the Zar'roc out of it's wine red sheath and he looked at the red blade before pointing it in front of him. He closed one eye and smiled, by that time screams of women, children and men could be heard. Though they were faint from where he was at, he knew that Thorn didn't wait and set the village on fire right away. Murtagh kept a slow pace that turned into a jog. He didn't know how many people were in the village and if they were rebels they would have weapons so this was most likely complete suicide. What was the king planning, having him killed by worthless villagers? _-Not going to happen.- _Murtagh thought as he made his way to the entrance. Hopefully he could get this done quick before the forest lit on fire. Standing just feet away from the village, Murtagh lifted his hand up, "Brisingr!" fire shot out, hitting a few running people were were heading his way, trying to flee.

This would have been so much easier with some soldiers. Thankfully he noticed that it was small - most likely not even a real village, just a base of some sort. By the size of the village there had to be at least fifty people there? Maybe more? Thorn seemed to be doing a pretty good job and getting rid of them. He would fly down low, breathe fire, hit a group of people with his tail - slamming them into a burning house then fly higher in the air to avoid arrows. For a quick moment Murtagh watched his dragon, making sure he wasn't hurt. But he let his guard down one second too long. A villager made his way towards the forest and instead of fleeing like everyone who was surviving did, he hid behind a tree, took his bow and arrow out and pointed it at Murtagh. He let go of the arrow and as he was turning around, the arrow struck him right in the leg. Murtagh was about ready to scream in pain but he bit his lower lip to hold it back. "Damnit." He cursed, trying to dodge another arrow. Murtagh easily counter-attacked with magic, killing the person. He began to wonder why he had to destroy this place with the people if they didn't even seem like a threat. Murtagh bent down, looking at his leg as he pulled the arrow out. He grunted and threw it aside.

Thick dark red blood came out from the wound and traveled down his leg. Muttering a few words, with his hand over the wound, it closed up. _-Thorn, can you tell how many people there are?-_

_Not exactly. A lot have been killed while some have fled. _

_-I knew that much...-_

_I would say that we could call it a day_

_-What? That's all? This was stupid..-_

Murtagh shook his head, as he walked around, kicking a few dead bodies. _Perhaps Galbatorix wanted this place destroyed before it got any stronger?_

"Who knows what that man was thinking. He could have easily sent bloody soldiers out to do this."

By now Thorn had landed and was behind Murtagh, following him closely. _He did say it was p--_

"I know. I guess it's better then being tortured. Come on, let's just go." Murtagh began to drag his feet in the dirt as he walked, putting Zar'roc back in it's sheath. He didn't even need to use the thing. Now the man was aggravated. "How long do you think we were even out? Fifteen minutes? Ten?"

_An hour. If you notice the sun was out when we landed, it's now getting darker._

"Oh.." Murtagh didn't even notice it before, until Thorn pointed it out. Maybe he was in the forest too long while Thorn did most of the work, and didn't even realize it. He opened his dry mouth, about to apologize when Thorn began to growl. _Do you hear that?_ He didn't respond, slightly turned his head and listened. Besides the fire cracking there was someone whispering. Murtagh growled and followed the voices. Couldn't the person at least pretend to be dead so he could go and clean up and sleep?

He noticed that inbetween two houses there was an older man with a small child who was shaking. In her hands she held a torn doll that she was using to cover her face. The man in front of her was the one whispering. He had a sword out but it didn't look like he was going to attack the girl. Murtagh could hear what the man was saying, but he simply just didn't care. With the Zar'roc back out, Murtagh ran forward, stabbing the guy in his side. He didn't have a chance to react and allowed himself to be slaughtered right in front of the child's eyes. Blood gushed out and Murtagh dug the sword deeper in before yanking it right out, tearing up the skin. Then to make sure he got the guy, Murtagh slashed at his throat.

Some of the blood that belonged to the man was all over the girl. It ran down her face like a tear, there was even blood in her hair. Her ocean blue eyes were wide and filled with real tears. "S-sir?" Her voice cracked. She crawled to the man on the floor and looked at him. He wasn't blinking nor breathing. Slowly she looked at Murtagh, who looked as if he was going to attack her too. Kill her the way he just killed her the man, with that emotionless stair. As he raised the sword, the girl lifted up her doll and threw it at his face. She pulled herself up and ran off. Murtagh stumbled back and took the doll and threw it to the ground. "Better that she escaped." He scratched his head, now calling it a day. He did what was asked of, destroyed the place and killed. As he made his way towards where he had left Thorn, he noticed something different. There was something on his back. Thorn was jumping around now, trying to get whatever was on him off. _-What's going on?!-_ He questioned his dragon.

_A human child came out of no where..._

Human child? Was it that kid again? He ran towards Thorn, glaring at the girl who now had a smile on her face. "Go away." He snapped and her just shook her head. "Nope! Mister killed guardian, now mister has to take care of me."

"...Huh?"

"Mister killed guardian, no--"

"I heard you the first time! Look kid, if you don't leave I'll be forced to kill you." Not that he really planned on it, he just wanted to scare her away. "And why are you laughing? You were crying a few seconds ago."

_You know this human?_

_-I just ran into her...-_

"Giant Bird is funny!" She laughed and Thorn tried shaking her off again, insulted at being called a bird.

Murtagh began to rub his temples, he could feel a headache just forming. He couldn't exactly just ditch the girl and leave her to take care of herself, she looked at least to be eight maybe nine years old. It wouldn't be long before something attacked her and killed her. "So, Mister going to take care of me?" She asked, tilting her head off to the side. Ignoring the question, Murtagh asked one of his own, "What's your name?"

"Dagger!"

"...As in the weapon?"

"I think? Before Daddy died, he use to make weapons! When I was born he said he made this really neat dagger and somehow mommy agreed to it." She was really cheerful for someone who watched their guardian get killed in front of her eyes. "What's your name?"

"Murtagh."

"Like tag, your it?"

He shook his head, and repeated his name slowly until the child finally got it right. "Was that your father that...?"

"Nope, Mommy and Daddy died at the same time, that was Mommy's friend who was taking care of me."

"Okay... well look kid, I can't exactly play babysitter right now."

He made his way towards Thorn's side and grabbed her wrist, trying to drag her down. (He doesn't exactly know how to be nice to a child) But right away she began to cry, "Noooooo!" Thorn made a loud sound, and Murtagh was covering his ears, letting her go. "Not so loud!" If there was glass near by, Murtagh was almost positive she could have shattered it because she was screaming so loud. She stopped crying and looked at Murtagh, with a confused look. He was going to regret this but... he managed to get on Thorn's back, with the girl there. Eying his sword that he hadn't put back in it's sheath, Murtagh raised it and being behind the girl he had an advantage. He brought it down and with the hilt of the sword, hit her head. It had been so strong for her small body that she passed out.

_What will you do?_

_-Not tell Galbatorix that's for sure.-_

_So you'll..._

_-Do I have a choice? If I leave her she'll scream and most likely be killed the next day. As long as no one at the castle finds out all should be well.-_

_What's with the change of heart?_

_-Who knows. All right, let's leave.-_

Murtagh put Zar'roc away, again, and made sure that while they were flying the girl wouldn't slip off and fall. Now he just had to sneak her in. What FUN that will be. He realized though, and this was most likely the only reason he agreed to taking her with, was that she was so lively that his mind would be focused on making sure no one would see her and not on Eragon...

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Yay for lame chapter? XX I was having a bit of writers block as to how to bring the girl in. But it'll be nice to see how Murtagh tries taking care of her since he already tried pulling her arm off ;D I need some ideas, so if you liked it please give off a few ideas, I may even use some! And review too, I would like that. With the next chapter I'll respond to the reviews in some way. Please, don't flame D: and if you do, well... er... be nice? This is like my first fanfic that I'm posting. Oh by the way, YES I know I fail at fight scenes.


	2. Chapter Two Änderungen

M'kay! I thought about it and I've got other plans for this story Soooo while I was gonna have MurtaghxEragon in it, that changed. If anything it'll be viewed as a friendship kind of thing, that's all. Brotherly friendship, maybe. But no pairing. ; I want to have a story with no pairings for now since that's all you see. :O It's a nice little change, don't you think? Änderungen means Changes.

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About the only _real_ problem that Murtagh seemed to have was sneaking her in. His headache turned into a migraine as he figured out how he would do this. He even considered throwing the girl in Thorn's mouth, she seemed small enough that she would fit. But Thorn happened to hear this thought and told him, _If I'm not careful enough she could get set on fire. And you don't want her waking up and seeing she is in the mouth of a dragon. Do you WANT her to scream again?_ "You're such a big help, Thorn." Though the red dragon had a point, if that were to happen while they were in the castle and servants and guards heard it well the whole point of keeping the child a secret would have been pointless.

They were about half way to Urû'baen so Murtagh didn't have a lot of time to think of something. This would have been simple if he could have just had Thorn fly into his room (the window was big enough for a dragon to go in and out of - that way they weren't separated) but there was a spell on the window that prevented anything from going _in_. So that meant Murtagh had to go in through the entrance, like a normal person.

He looked down at Dagger who was still fast asleep. "Do you have any ideas?" He asked Thorn, while still looking at the girl. The blood that was on her face was now dried up, most likely from the wind. Murtagh almost started to pick at it until he realized that it wouldn't be a good idea to wake her until they were safely inside. He still couldn't help but wonder why she wanted him to be her guardian. Why were kids so... confusing? If Thorn had responded and given off an idea, Murtagh wasn't paying attention. It most likely slipped in one ear, went around his brain but since he didn't listen it just left through the other.

_Think of anything yet?_

_-I'm thinking still...-_

Normally he would be able to come up with an idea, a helpful idea, fast but right now he kept drawing a big blank. He would get half an idea, start it off but right away the negatives would pop up. He began to rub the back of his neck. There was always that option of just tossing her off the dragon and watching her fall, hoping she would be all right when she landed. No he couldn't do that, he decided to take her in - it was the least he could do for killing off her real guardian... right? But he made a note for himself: while he took her in he would feed her and all that stuff, but if it came down to it she was a complete stranger to him, her life meant nothing. So if she was in danger he wouldn't do anything unless some how his life was in danger as well. Even then he would just be doing it for himself, not her. That's why he was planning on making sure no one found out about her so none of that happened.

That brought him back to his main problem. Getting her in the castle. One idea came to mind but he wasn't sure how well that would work. He didn't want to try it with the chance of it failing completely but he started to see the outline of the castle so he had no choice. _-Goddammit.- _ Murtagh brought his hands up to his green, torn cloak and he slipped that off, putting it over the girl's small body. It was slightly cold out because of nightfall, a blanket of stars covered the dark sky though they were not bright, it looked like most of them were going to fade away. Murtagh shivered a bit at the cold but he ignored it. Then he pulled off his tunic and the hair on his back and arms stood up and goose bumps began to form. He couldn't believe what he was doing...

He did the same thing that he did with the cloak, put it over the girl. If anyone asked why he was running around, half naked his response would have been something about there being a lot of blood on both the cloak and tunic and the mixture of sweat and blood smelled awful. He was even willing to prove his point too - since it wasn't a complete lie - and make anyone who gave him a weird look, smell it! _So, you thought of something, I take it?_ Murtagh nodded, not like Thorn could even see the nod. "Hopefully it'll work."

Thorn flew down when the castle became more in view and not just an outline. He landed by the front gates and Murtagh got off, making sure the items of clothing didn't fall off or move. _-Make sure you're careful when you walk.-_

_Make sure **you **don't walk too fast then._

Murtagh let out a low chuckle, _-All right, I'll slow down my pace. Just this once though.-_

Murtagh looked up at the one in charge of opening and closing the gates. He cleared his throat then, "Open up!" He shouted. The man was falling asleep at his post and wasn't expecting Murtagh's deep voice to yell. It surprised him and his eyes shot open and he stumbled a bit. Looking down, he was clearly angry. "Who the hell is ordering me a--..." He stopped, paused, and noticed the dragon. Murtagh stood there, shifting his weight to his left leg with his arms crossed. A cold glare on his dirty face as he looked up at the guy.

"Were you slow as a child? I'm waiting..."

The guy didn't say anything and squinted his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Uhhh..." He saw the dragon and the red scales. Murtagh was getting a bit impatient. So clearly this guy was slow as a child.. "If you don't hurry up and let me in, I'll tell your commander you were slacking off and well" he looked at Thorn, a smile of his face, "Thorn is quite hungry." The guy jumped once more, with wide eyes, and began to nod as he opened the gates. He wasn't sure before, but now he knew, that was diffidently Murtagh.

Murtagh sighed and nodded his head to the red dragon. The rider began to walk in, with the dragon at his side. As he walked, servants were running around cleaning up and a few of the females happened to stop to gaze at Murtagh and the fact that he was shirtless. A few of the males even stopped, but they were only interested to see the scar on his back. Murtagh began to walk closer to Thorn, his his hand on Zar'roc making it look like he would attack at any given moment if he got one more look. Thorn was even beginning to growl, protective of his rider. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Dagger was moving a bit, he even thought that she was making some noise but if she was then Thorn's growling drowned her out. Just to make sure though, Murtagh began to cough and rubbed his throat.

_Shall we go to the throne room first or up to the tower?_

_-I'll report to him tomorrow, so yeah, the tower.-_

That's where Murtagh's room was located at, in one of the many towers the castle had. At one point it had been his parent's room when they were there, before they died. He didn't like the thought of sleeping in the same room that of all people, his father, slept in. But he had taken half of the 'junk' out and made it more... homeish for him. When he first got the room, he figured that Galbatorix was just lazy and gave him a room that was already furnished. The two walked up the steps, Thorn's steps echoed off the stone walls making them louder and that didn't help the migraine Murtagh still had. After what felt like walking up a hundred flight of steps, they reached Murtagh's room. He pushed the doors opened and Thorn entered first, then he followed, closing them.

The room was big, it fit Thorn, a bed and other items with extra space. There was a fireplace that looked to be just lit and a giant rug was next to it. On the walls there were paintings and a few were even cut up (that was Murtagh's doing). Kicking his shoes off and throwing them to the side, Murtagh threw the dirty clothes off Dagger and picked her up. She was still sleeping so that's good. He walked over towards his bed, with one arm moved the black blankets and put Dagger down, tossing the covers back on her, rolling his eyes as he did. This felt so weird...

Right away, Dagger curled into a ball and subconsciously grabbed one of the silk pillow and started to snuggle it, like it was a doll. Murtagh rubbed his eyes as he walked towards his dresser and opened it. _Awww_ Hearing his dragon 'awww' at that made Murtagh raise an eyebrow as he shot him a look. _Are all little humans that peaceful when asleep?_ Murtagh shrugged and told Thorn he hasn't seen a child sleep before so he wouldn't know. As he told him this be was looking around for an extra blanket. When he didn't find one, he just grabbed a clean cloak and closed the dresser.

_-Are you going hunting?-_

_I'm sure I'll survive through the night. While you go give your report in the morning I can hunt._

_-All right...-_

Thorn curled up on the rug, in front of the fire and Murtagh sat down next to him. _You're not sleeping in your bed tonight? _Murtagh shook his head, "I'm not sleeping with a child. She can have my bed for tonight until I can figure out where to..." he stopped, being interrupted by a yawn, "put her." he said in a whisper. With that he used the cloak as a blanket and leaned on Thorn, using him as a pillow almost. Thorn lowered his head, closing his eyes. _You're like... what do you humans call it... a parental unit now._

Murtagh had to hold himself back from laughing. Him, a parent? Yeah right. No he wasn't planning on ever becoming a parent, it was the last thing he ever thought of. He didn't want to take the chance of being like his father. _-No, I'm not. I'm far from being that.- _With that he drifted off to sleep.

About two hours passed and Dagger woke up with a start. She looked around, panic rushed over her as she tried to find Murtagh. Her head felt like it had been cracked open, and as she rubbed it there was a bump. She moaned a bit, and noticed Thorn. She got out from under the covers and crawled across the bed, getting off it. She stood up, dusted her patched up tan dress that went up to her knees and walked over towards him. Dagger noticed that Murtagh was also there, both asleep. "Haha." She softly laughed, looking mostly at Thorn. "Big Bird doesn't look half scary when asleep."

For a few moments she watched them sleep until she jumped up to her feet. Dagger bit her index finger and looked around then ran towards the door. She grabbed the door handle and had a bit of trouble opening the heavy door. She was able to open it a little but not much and when it moved it creaked. Dagger bit her lower lip and then slipped out of the room, running down the steps. Thorn's head perked up right away and he looked around, then focused on the door. At Thorn's sudden movement, Murtagh shifted to his side, talking a bit in his sleep.

_Murtagh! Murtagh!_

His response was a bunch of mixed up words that Thorn couldn't even make out, something about one more minute. _Get up! The girl... she is gone._

"Go find... her. Not. problem." Murtagh muttered in his sleep. Thorn glared at Murtagh and stood up, walking away, causing Murtagh to fall backwards (no more support) and hit head head on the stone floor. He cursed, "Ow! What was that for?" Moving his head towards the door, as if to point to it, Murtagh noticed it was open. He cursed once more, getting up to his feet and throwing the cloak aside. _-Stay here, I'll be right back-_

_Not like I planned to follow_. As Murtagh ran out to chase after the girl, Thorn moved back to his spot and laid back down, falling asleep once more.

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Tries to end it with something that was all "...wut?!" Another lame chapter, but oh wells. I kind of rushed this one a bit because I kept getting ideas for other chapters in my head. I only got one review. T-T Please review? smiles innocently

**bon35bonk3r5** - I'm glad you like it so far. D: I know the fight scene was short but with a little more practice the next one should be longer!


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